Presented By: Center for Southeast Asian Studies
CSEAS Fridays at Noon Lecture Series: Burmese Spirit (nat)
Judith Becker, professor emerita of ethnomusicology, University of Michigan
In addition to their devotion to Theravada Buddhism, the Burmese people maintain a robust tradition of spirit (nat) worship. The purpose of the spirit worshipping rituals is to incarnate the spirits through the possession trance of a transvestite ritual specialist. The spirits are mostly historical figures who lived during Burma’s period of military and political strength in the 11th-12th centuries CE. Because of their unfortunate deaths, these spirits cannot be reincarnated, but are doomed to endlessly wander this earthly realm.
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